


The Voice That Calls You

by anonkun



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: (Probably) Out of Character, Fire Emblem Heroes AU, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Self Indulgent Headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22983949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonkun/pseuds/anonkun
Summary: "Sometimes Klein’s dreams are filled with hypotheticals - of a world where he is nothingness - floating around, watching the world turn, realizing how utterly meaningless his existence is."Or: In which Klein keeps his worries and insecurities to himself, and it's up to his companions to show him he's loved.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 9





	The Voice That Calls You

**Author's Note:**

> There is a lot of backstory that goes into the relationships between these four, and there is implied Leon/Klein (the crack ship that no one ships but me), but that is not the focus here nor is it important, so I apologize for giving none of the backstory here. I hope you can appreciate it nonetheless.

Sometimes Klein’s dreams are filled with lions’ roars.

Sometimes Klein’s dreams are filled with hypotheticals - of a world where he is nothingness - floating around, watching the world turn, realizing how _utterly meaningless_ his existence is.

Sometimes Klein doesn’t dream. But that was the rarity nowadays.

It’s irrational really. He knows he's loved, that his family loved him, and he knows he has people that have his back. Still, droplets of insecurity still manage to seep through.

_But Leon lost his first love._

_But Innes lost his goal._

_But Jeorge and his family..._

_What place do I, someone who has lost nothing, have to complain?_

And so he carries on, ignoring the feelings of dread and incompetence that well up from time to time. There’s no time for him to complain. No time to focus on these pitiful emotions. For the sake of Askr, for the sake of those he loves, he won’t say a word.

* * *

“...and that is why I detest having to share such a similar name with that stuck-up Nohrian prince! I understand being a bit of an airhead, but seriously, every day it seems that his collar is inside out. Well, I suppose that’s just his own fashion statement. Absolutely horrible, but very Leo. Still though! Why can’t he have just a smidge of fashion sensibility?”

Leon paused his rambling to take a breath, looking over at Klein. Klein was absentmindedly nodding along, his eyes glazed over and his mind obviously not tracking the one-sided conversation.

“Darling? Earth to Prince Charming? Hello, are you in there?” Klein snapped back to awareness at Leon’s call, face reddening a bit as he noticed Leon staring intensely at his face. “You okay there, darling?”

“Yes, I am,” Klein said. “I’m just not completely awake yet, it’s still quite early in the morning.”

Leon was not convinced at all, a skeptical expression crossing his face.

“Klein, it’s nine. I’ve seen you awake and training at six before.” Seriously concerned at this point, Leon brought a hand up to feel Klein’s forehead. “What the- Klein! I know you’re a goodie two-shoes, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to neglect your health!”

“Huh?” was Klein’s eloquent reply as Leon hurriedly coaxed him away from the archery range and back towards the barracks.

“Mila above, you are such an idiot at times! Yes, yes, I know I’ve told you I’ll love you no matter what, but I can’t love you if you’re dead. Oh no, Klein, don’t you dare black out on me-”

Unfortunately for Leon, Klein did exactly that.

* * *

Everything was a hazy mess. Leon had managed to haul Klein back to his bed, and sometimes in his rare lucid moments, Klein could see him just sitting nearby watching over him. At those instances he wanted to say something to him - somehow express his guilt for making him watch over him. His body disagreed, staying put and making only small restless movements.

“You really do care too much about others, y’know? I get that you’re trying to be mature, that you don’t want to worry us, but you know you can confide in us, right? ...we’ll talk about this when you wake up.”

Klein felt a light pressure on his forehead, hair brushing against his face, but soon it was gone and he fell back into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

The next couple of hours were the absolute worst.

Klein had moved past the state of the gentle ebb and flow of consciousness and unconsciousness straight into the rocky water of fever induced dreams and hallucinations. Distant, blurry memories of a certain day, a certain arena, a certain animal. Another one of a certain realization - a certain thing he never wanted to know and wished he never learned.

“It’s alright, just go back to sleep.”

Through half-lidded eyes, Klein could vaguely make out light hair bunched into a ponytail.

“Father? Is that you?”

“...don’t worry Klein. We’re here for you. Take it easy, you’ll get through this. We believe in you.”

Moving back to the land of dreams, the others’ conversation floated into one ear and straight out the other.

“Looks like you’re not the only one with daddy issues, Jeorge.”

“Don’t even start, Innes.”

* * *

By the time the fever had ended, the sun had long since set. As if waking up from an enchanted sleep, Klein’s eyes slowly opened.

“Look! The Princess is awake!”

Klein groaned, turning away from Leon.

“Oh, don’t be that way, darling. Who was it that passed out in my arms again? Ah yes, I believe it was you?”

“Leon, have just a bit more tact.”

“Leon? Having tact?” Innes gave a bark of a laugh, Leon sticking his tongue out in response. “I’ll be dead before that happens.”

“Could you please be just a bit more quiet?” Klein asked, “My head still hurts a bit.”

“Well if Prince Charming insists, I suppose we must. But darling, next time you get sick? We’d much prefer you to stay in bed. Not that I didn’t enjoy having you in my arms, but I do wish the circumstances were better.” Sighing, Leon’s voice became a tad lower - a tad more serious. “Well, if you’d let me cut to the chase, what in Mila’s name is up with you? And don’t just say that you’re okay, we all know that’s utter-”

“Klein, I know that we haven’t known each other for that long,” Jeorge interrupted, cutting Leon off, “but you do realize that we care for you, yes?”

“Of course I know that,” Klein said, sitting up a bit. “But…”

“Keeping things to yourself achieves nothing. Even a king can’t rule without their trusted advisors.”

“And even the lowliest scum can find salvation in trusting another.”

Looking at the other’s somber faces, Klein felt a mix of sadness and gratefulness rise up within him. He always knew that he had his friends - these three who have risked their lives for him before, and he the same to them - but it hit like a truck now how much they really did care.

“I’m sorry for worrying you all,” Klein said, not able to meet any of their eyes. “I know, it was stupid of me.”

“Glad we’ve got that established.”

“Innes!” Jeorge snapped, giving a disapproving glare to Innes who only responded with a challenging smirk.

Klein couldn’t take it anymore. He started laughing way louder than he probably should’ve, but he just couldn’t restrain his amusement, laughing so hard that he started coughing.

“Glad you find this amusing, darling, but remember to breath.”

“I’ll try my best,” Klein finally got out once his breathing was under control. “Really though, it’s fine, Jeorge. Innes means no harm.”

“Oh, I realize that, but he could still show just a bit more care...”

“Innes? Showing care?” Leon teased, drawing out the first syllable in Innes’ name. “I’ll be dead before that happens.”

“Leon.” Despite his disapproving tone, Jeorge was clearly amused at it all.

“Okay, enough of this idiocy, let us get back to the matter at hand.” At Innes’s words the light-hearted atmosphere faded away. “If you’d please, would you tell us what exactly has been going on, Klein?”

“Of course you don’t need to feel pressured to tell us if you’re not ready to tell yet.”

“No, no, I think you deserve to know.” At that, even Leon snapped to attention. “Remember what I told you way back then, Leon? The one you dubbed to be ‘my Valbar’?”

“Of course I do. How could I forget our first meeting?”

“Well, it’s related to that. When I was younger I used to have nightmares about what happened back then. I was only four years old at the time, and my parents took me to the arena to see the pit fighting. I never found out how it happened, but one of the lions got loose and attacked me.”

A small gasp escaped, but apart from that it was silence, a symbol for Klein to continue.

“I was saved by Dieck, the man I told Leon about, but it still haunted me. Growing up it only got worse thinking back on it. Mother and Father are powerful nobles, they traveled with Hector, Lyn, and Eliwood. Why weren’t they there to save me? How was I left unsupervised like that? As the son of such a prominent noble family, was my safety really of such little importance?

“It only got worse when I figured something out. Something I wish I never did. I never confronted them about it, but the timeline matches up and... “

Jeorge moved closer, rubbing small circles on Klein’s back.

“In that final battle at Dragon’s Gate, Mother would’ve been pregnant with me, and yet she and Father… I understand that it was a matter of saving the world, but I… Is it selfish of me? To have wanted her to at least stay behind? I trust Mother and Father’s strength, but still, if they had died in that battle, I wouldn’t…”

All of a sudden, Klein found himself being embraced by Leon, strong arms pulling him in close. A sort of calming warmth enveloped Klein, washing over him gently in little waves.

“Oh, Klein… I wish you had told us sooner.”

“I… I wish I had too,” Klein muttered, relaxing into the hug. “To finally say it out loud, it’s sort of liberating in a way.”

“That’s what happens when you let it all out,” Jeorge remarked. “Having held such feelings in for so long, it’s no wonder it built up.”

“And when it just keeps on building and building, growing and growing, well… You can see the results for yourself, can’t you, Klein?”

Klein nodded sheepishly.

“Well, it’s alright now,” Leon said with a smile. “You’ve got us now, right, darling? We’re all glad you’re here with us. I know I for one am absolutely horrified at the prospect of you not existing. Oh, woe be me, whatever would my life have been like without my beautiful Prince Charming?”

“Dramatic as always, Leon. I suppose I should say my part as well, yes? If it weren’t for you, and I suppose also Leon’s questionable intervention,” Leon rolled his eyes dramatically as Innes continued, “I will confess that my pride might have gotten in the way of becoming so close to you all. Especially Jeorge.”

“Yes, you have always been the one to see the positives in all of us, even when we couldn’t see them in ourselves or each other.”

“Exactamundo! You’ve been our little rock of positivity, so let us be yours as well! What do you say, darling?”

Klein smiled.

“Of course.”

He’s so glad.

So glad to have met them.

So glad to have been given this chance.

That night his dreams were full of warmth and an overwhelming feeling of belonging.


End file.
